Two detained in Finland over ISIS executions in Tikrit

Date of publication: 10 12 2015, 17:15

The National Bureau of Investigation says that two Iraqi brothers have been detained in Finland on suspicion of terrorism-related murders in Iraq. They suspect that they were members of the extremist group ISIS.

The National Bureau of Investigation says that two Iraqi men were detained in Forssa, Finland, on Tuesday on suspicion of terrorism-related murders committed in Iraq. The detentions took place peacefully.

At a press conference on Thursday afternoon, NBI Chief Inspector Jari Räty said that the men are suspected of 11 killings on one occasion in Iraq in June 2014. The incident was part the ISIS Camp Speicher massacre of unarmed Iraqi Air Force cadets near Tikrit, where more than 1,000 are believed to have died.

The men allegedly shot dead Iraqi Army cadets who had been taken prisoner following an attack on a bus. ISIS made propaganda videos of the killings and distributed them online.

“Shot one by one”

“The victims were lying on the ground and they were shot one by one,” said Räty of the video. “In this situation (the shooters) were not masked.”

Police say that they tracked the men down based on their own investigations, in cooperation with the Finnish Security Intelligence Service.

The two 23-year-old Iraqi men arrived in Finland in September. Räty declined to say whether or not the two men had made asylum applications.

They were not interviewed until Thursday due to a shortage of interpreters. on Friday, police will ask Pirkanmaa District Court to formally place them under arrest.